Cuba

2011

Cuban
human rights defender Laura Pollán, who died Friday from
respiratory complications at a Havana hospital, fought a mighty battle against
the Cuban government for almost a decade. Pollán, 63, leaves behind her husband,
the award-winning independent journalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, and a daughter.
She also leaves a legacy of determination, courage, and creativity. Her powerful
belief in justice was ultimately rewarded when dozens of wrongly imprisoned dissidents
and journalists, including her husband, were freed from prison over the last
two years, in large part due to her efforts.

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In
mid-2006, CPJ's Journalist
Assistance
program began sending regular remittances to the families of independent Cuban journalists
in prison. By CPJ's count, of the 29 journalists jailed during a massive crackdown in 2003, 24 were still in prison at the time--making
Cuba the world's second-worst jailer of journalists in the world. The
remittances, sent monthly, helped families cover travel expenses to the prisons--sometimes
two days away on shabby buses--and basic maintenance for the jailed editors and
reporters--ranging from food staples like rice and beans, to clothes, bowls and
spoons, to aspirin and specialized medications, all unavailable behind bars. At
the time, I was the Research Associate for the Americas program, and my
job was to contact families and catalog urgency and needs.

In 2007, my
colleague Karen Phillips suggested we do something to mark World Refugee Day. Initially
planning to publish a brief statement, I set about reviewing our data for
background, checking in with older journalist cases about their current
situation and looking broadly for trends to highlight. As the number of cases began
counting into the hundreds, it became clear that what we had was a new indicator
of press freedom conditions. Today, we're marking our fifth year of publishing
the CPJ survey of journalists in exile, which is based on 10 years of data on
649 cases.

When I awoke on the morning of July 8, 2010, in the Guamajal Prison in Villa Clara, I couldn't have imagined that five days later I was going to be landing at Barajas International Airport in Spain, accompanied by five of my comrades.

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I joined the political
civilist youth movement in 1991. Curiously, what I remember most from that
period is how my apprehensions led me to disguise myself with a hat and glasses
when traveling from my town of Artemisa to Havana to meet with other activists.
These feelings of fear, defenselessness, and even blame, are common to those
who live in Cuba, stifled by oppression and numbed by endless totalitarian
propaganda.

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I went to prison for practicing independent journalism
in Cuba.
As soon as you get there, you must prepare yourself to narrate the horrors of
the hellhole you've ended up in. And Cuban prisons are horrendous. But the
horrors start not one step back in the penal tribunal, not two steps back with
the police chief, but three steps back, with the Cuban penal code, which
reflects the social decomposition of post-Soviet Cuba. The government's legal
response to a wave of robberies (and to a similar wave of political unrest) is
to make sentences more severe. Are they trying to punish the innocent? No, they
want to "save the revolution," and since "the end justifies the means," toughness
is expected from the police and from prosecutors, who are judged on their
ability to quickly resolve cases; and from judges, who grow accustomed to
handing down harsh sentences. In such a way, they get used to tough sentencing
as they continue to lose their humanity.

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Acclaimed Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez has had her share of
honors lately. Last year alone, her blogging, which offers a personal and
critical view of life in Cuba, was honored by the Dutch Prince Claus Fund, the International Press Institute,
and the Danish Centre for Political Studies. This week, Sánchez received a very
different type of distinction--from the Cuban government. She was featured on Monday
night's installment of "Las Razones de Cuba" (Cuban Reasons), a state-sponsored
TV program and website that chronicles perceived threats to the government and
singles out independent journalists as enemies of the state.

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March 18 is not a day we usually look forward to at CPJ. On
this day in 2003, the Cuban government launched a massive crackdown on the
independent press resulting in the jailing of 29 reporters. But this year we
have reason to feel encouraged. On March 4, with the release of Pedro Argüelles Morán,
the last of the Black Spring
journalists was released.

On March 18, 2003, our people endured one of the worst episodes in Cuba's history. The peaceable political dissident community, human rights defenders, trade unionists, and independent journalists, along with representatives of the emergent and democratic civil society--74 men and one woman--were the victims of the most absolute, merciless, and cruel government power.

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When I wake up and sense my
husband's body next to mine, I ask myself if I'm dreaming or if it is true that
he has returned to our home.

Eight years have passed since 75
Cubans were uprooted from their homes for thinking differently than the
governmental discourse and having the courage to express it publicly. So many
days and nights of agony and suffering for their parents, wives, children, and
grandchildren; so much accumulated pain. But the important thing is that they
couldn't uproot our love. Our love gave us the motivation needed to undertake a
tenacious and constant fight for the release of our loved ones.